There are 2 aspects of succeeding with Social,
Listening + Brand Story.
Building the Brand Story is not the work of social, neither it is going to get done by searching on Google(You'll have to interview Target Buyers and collect insights through Marketing Activities)
When you talk about Listening, it's just an excercise where you go to communities, influencers, newsletters, podcasts and every channel regarding your industry and build a tool that tells you what people are talking about and what they care about.
These 2 components fuel any Content Strategy, not only social...Hope this helps
P.S- If you want I can share my Listening template for you to use